1. What are the ways that inquiry has had a positive impact on your
teaching and / or student learning?
Incorporating inquiry into our units
has proven to have a positive impact on my teaching and more importantly on
students learning. Some of the positives that highlight our experiences with
inquiry this year:
0
Naturally lent itself to
differentiation among the diverse academic needs in my classroom.
0
Increased engagement of all learners.
0
Offered students more choices and more
responsibility to take ownership of their learning.
0
Fostered the active use and
application of knowledge.
0
Helped students work collaboratively
in pairs, teams, and with adults.
0
Gave students opportunities to
practice skills they will face as adults (interviewing, writing emails, making
phone calls, and engaging with adults and organizations in their community).
2. What are the drawbacks? What are the ways that inquiry still feels uncomfortable? What are you still unsure about?
With the demands of curriculum and the
restraints of testing, time and content-specific skills are always in the back
of mind as drawbacks to inquiry. I find value in weaving inquiry into the
curriculum when it serves as the best avenue towards student learning, but I’m
uncomfortable with the idea of making it the focus of all lessons. Even when
considering the positive impact on student learning, I think it’s important to
incorporate a variety of teaching strategies into our practice. I admit however that this belief may come from the understanding that I'm not sure how to make all content fit into the inquiry model.
I can so relate to your reflection, Jessica! I LOVE inquiry, and so believe in this constructivist theory, but find myself freaking out about time, and the necessity for some directed content delivery. I am thinking, though, that most teachers who are obligated to teach to the standards feel the same way. And, I do think that we do have to differentiate for ALL of our learners... sometimes inquiry is too loose for some of our kiddos. I think it is finding the balance between inquiry-based learning, and scaffolded instruction that will remain the moving target (changing with each new set of kids and each new piece of content that needs to be taught!) I am thinking that perhaps the name of the game for us as teachers is "flexibility!"
ReplyDelete